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Product Briefing Outline: Mattson Technology has added the ‘Alpine’ system to its family of dry strip products. The Alpine system was developed to address advanced low temperature photoresist strip processes on back-end-of-line (BEOL) and front-end-of-line (FEOL) applications for future technology nodes with a single tool. Specifically, the tool is designed to tackle the challenges of advanced low-k and other complex materials. The company noted that it has shipped its initial Alpine system to a major semiconductor manufacturer in Taiwan. 

Problem: The majority of manufacturers are currently forced to sacrifice productivity in BEOL due to the use of expensive etchers that typically afford low throughput. Challenges include the migration to low-k and other complex materials that can be damaged more easily at smaller geometries.  

Solution: The Alpine features Mattson's proprietary inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source and a bias capability that enables independent control of ion energy and ion density at low pressures to minimize damage to low-k materials for sub-65 nanometer processing. The Alpine employs a unique photoresist recess process for low-k/Cu dual damascene structures for advanced logic devices, which is claimed to provide chipmakers with a CoO of up to 35 percent lower than that of dielectric etch tools. It also provides improved profile control, low-k material preservation and a wider process window; and is able to run processes under low-pressure regimes, unlike conventional etchers.

Applications: Copper/low-k dielectric integration, low-k/ultra low-k ashing, resist recess, barrier layer removal and other BEOL dry strip challenges with a single tool, in addition to all critical FEOL dry strip process requirements for 65nm node and below.

Platform: The Alpine features Mattson's proprietary inductively coupled plasma (ICP) source and a bias capability providing improved profile control, low-k material preservation and a wider process window. The system builds and expands on Mattson's Suprema production proven platform and is designed for reliable, high-productivity, low-cost-of-ownership, achieved with Alpine's high-speed vacuum and atmospheric robotics, which delivers increased throughput, of over 40 percent better than competitive systems for advanced strip applications.

Availability: May 2008 onwards.